Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 2, 2017 29 BRANDON WIMBUSH SHOWS HE CAN PASS Junior quarterback Brandon Wim- bush set a pair of school records for a quarterback with 207 yards and four touchdowns on the ground in Notre Dame's 49-20 win over Boston College Sept. 16, but his 11-of-24 performance throwing the ball left much to be de- sired with that aspect of his game. Making the fourth start of his ca- reer, Wimbush put together arguably the most balanced performance of his burgeoning career. He was an efficient 14-of-20 passing for 173 yards with a touchdown, and added another 52 yards and a score on the ground. Some on the outside might have doubted the gifted junior, but Wim- bush remained confident in his ability. "I don't think I doubted myself at all this week," Wimbush said. "Ev- erybody in the building was so sup- portive of me. I tried to not look at the media … I have a great surround- ing cast with everybody in the facil- ity, my parents, my family who stuck with me and encouraged me." Offensive coordinator Chip Long called a game that allowed Wimbush to get comfortable early. Not only did the quick throws get Wimbush into a good early rhythm, it helped exploit Michigan State's aggressiveness up front. On the game's first play, Wimbush threw a quick screen to his right, which sophomore wideout Chase Claypool turned into a 10-yard gain. After another 10-yard pass to Clay- pool, Wimbush hit junior Equanime- ous St. Brown for a 40-yard gain, the team's longest pass play of the season. Wimbush finished the drive off with a 16-yard scamper up the mid- dle for a touchdown. "It's definitely important for the of- fense and the entire team's mentality early in the game," Wimbush said of the team's hot start. "The guys did a great job of making plays early on. "Up front, they gave me a great amount of time to produce and ex- ecute these plays. Getting off to that start really led to the mentality we had throughout the rest of the game." IRISH LINE HANDLES BUSINESS Notre Dame opened the season with 422 yards on the ground against Tem- ple, and the week prior to its victory over Michigan State the Irish punished Boston College for 515 rushing yards. Michigan State kept the Irish in check — at least relative to its recent record-breaking performances — but the offensive line controlled the Spar- tans at the point of attack, allowing the Irish to grind out tough yards. "It's always huge. Football, we like to think, is won up front," fifth-year senior left tackle Mike McGlinchey said. "We take a lot of pride in that. Michigan State historically has a good front seven. They make it very hard for teams to run the ball. "We've got a system in place starting with Coach Long and the trust that he has in the six of us to get our jobs done even when things don't necessarily jell as well as we would like them early on. "We stuck with it. Especially the last two weeks, we've been able to grind teams out late and get the job done when it matters most." Michigan State attacked the Notre Dame offense with its linebackers, but for the most part the offense han- dled the Spartans' pressures. "I think we did a great job. I don't think we had too many negative plays throughout the entire day," Mc- Glinchey said. "The communication was great, especially when we've got two fresh guys over on the right side playing in a tough road game for the first time in their career. "They were communicating and doing a great job getting the calls across the board. The five of us were great all night." MICHIGAN STATE VS. NOTRE DAME QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Michigan State 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 9:33 7:40 8:37 8:15 17:13 16:52 34:05 Third-Down Conversions 3-5 3-5 2-4 3-5 6-10 5-9 12-19 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-0 1-2 0-0 1-2 1-2 Average Field Position MSU-26 MSU-23 MSU-24 MSU-18 MSU-25 MSU-21 MSU-23 Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 5:27 7:20 6:23 6:45 12:47 13:08 25:55 Third-Down Conversions 1-2 4-6 1-2 2-4 5-8 3-6 8-14 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Average Field Position ND-27 ND-38 ND-29 ND-29 ND-32 ND-29 ND-31 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards MSU ND (-) 6 7 0-5 48 32 6-9 16 7 10-19 8 9 20-29 6 2 30-39 0 0 40-49 0 3 50 or more 1 0 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score MSU 5 1 1 3 Notre Dame 4 4 0 0 The Notre Dame offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage, paving the way for 182 rushing yards and holding the Michigan State pass rush in check. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Michigan State • 3-1 MSU34 Lewerke rush for 52 yards to the ND14 • 1-10 ND25 Lewerke pass complete to Holmes for 25 yards and a touchdown Notre Dame • 2-8 ND44 Wimbush pass complete to St. Brown for 40 yards to the MSU16 • 1-10 ND20 Adams rush for 30 yards to the 50-yard line, PENALTY MSU personal foul 15 yards to the MSU35 • 1-10 MSU35 Wimbush pass complete to Claypool for 27 yards to the MSU8 • 3-7 ND26 Wimbush rush for 32 yards to the MSU42, PEN- ALTY MSU personal foul 15 yards to the MSU27